News

Tiffany Shines in New Setting

new york ny

The coveted AIGA Corporate Leadership Award goes
to renowned jeweler Tiffany & Co. and home-care
innovator Method. They join the likes of Apple,
Target, Nike, Jet Blue, Patagonia, Harley Davidson,
Adobe, IBM and others over the decades. Both
companies are said to incorporate design throughout
their businesses, not just for advertising or
packaging. AIGA selected Tiffany & Co. for
utilizing design in a distinctive manner; the
“Tiffany Blue” box is synonymous with
quality and is representative of classic brand
building through design. The brand has remained
vital and relevant for so long by making surprising
choices, such as working with collaborators from
various creative disciplines – Jean
Schlumberger, Elsa Peretti, Paloma Picasso and
Frank Gehry, to name a few. Method is being
honored for applying design from within to change
the way consumers perceive environmentally
friendly cleaning products. Case in point: the
company’s revolutionary laundry detergent,
where a focus on design at every stage helped
create a smaller package, more efficient formula
and pump cap to prevent “overdosing”
when people overestimate the amount of detergent
needed. AIGA will present the Awards this April
in New York City as part of its annual gala.Contact:www.aiga.org/corporate-leadership-award

Animated Auras Collide

new york ny

This spec spot by nailgun for Converse opens on
a young, hip downtown New Yorker getting ready to
venture out for the day, with her Converse unlocking
an enchanting world of color and whimsy. It follows
her throughout her playful day, and ends on the
waterfront where sheet meets her Converse-wearing
boyfriend in a collision of animated auras. Michael
Waldron, nailgun Co-Founder and Creative Director,
says the characters “are inspired by Japanese
animation styles and each have their own
subtle personality.” Erik van der Wilden
served as Director of Production and Doe Hyuk
Park was Senior Designer/Animator.Contact:www.nailgun.tv

Poulin + Morris Leads Way Downtown

new york ny

Poulin + Morris was asked to design a temporary
public street-scape plan for several construction
sites in Lower Manhattan. The brainchild of
Downtown Alliance of New York, the environmental
graphics and a well-designed wayfinding sign
system aim to both mask and beautify the construction
zones and make it easier for pedestrians to
navigate the neighborhoods. An essential part
of the program is the introduction of large-scale
“You Are Here” maps of Lower
Manhattan that include points to major destinations
such as stores, landmarks, restaurants, tourist
attractions and subways. The temporary graphics
needed to be flexible in order to accommodate
an ever-changing urban landscape. To that end,
a modular system was created to cover a variety
of applications and site conditions, such as
construction barriers, building facades, retail
storefronts, scaffolding and free-standing
elements. Credits to Design Directors Brian
Brindisi and Douglas Morris, Designer Andy
Schoonmaker, and Photographer Deborah Kushma.Contact:www.poulinmorris.com

Y&R Talks Tough For Land Rover

london UK

Tough and indestructible. That’s the
message coming across loud and clear in a whimsical
new ad campaign created by Y&R Lima, RKCR/Y&R
London for the new Land Rover S1 Phones. The
campaign launched in the UK and includes three
posters/print ads that depict the phone in
different strength-test scenarios with the print
titles Safari, Construction and Rescue. Graham
Lang was Global Creative Director on the campaign,
with Regional Executive Creative Director
Guillermo Vega, Executive Creative Director
Flavio Pantigoso, Head of Art Christian
Sánchez, Copywriter Daniel de
León and Art Directors Christian
Sánchez and Mirko Cuculiza.Contact:www.yr.com

Condoms for the Cause Conscious

boulder co

TDA Advertising & Design sought a mix
of “hip” and “regal”
design for the packaging and a website for Sir
Richard’s Condom Co. Sir Richard’s
is a for-profit business with philanthropic
goals founded last year by TDA and equity partners.
The creative team, led by Creative Director Thomas
Dooley, Creative Director/ Copywriter Jonathan
Schoenberg and Designer Austin O’Connor,
wanted to create a hip package aimed at
style-conscious, cost-conscious and cause conscious
consumers. An outdoor and point-of-sale campaign
reminds consumers of the costs of childraising,
diapers to college, stroller to minivan. Stickers
on the condom packages show the savings each box
represents compared to some child necessity. And
for every condom bought in the US, another will
be donated in a developing nation, beginning
with Haiti.Contact:www.tdaad.com

Zadina Dates Get High Marque

london uk

Pearlfisher has created the identity and packaging
design for Zadina, a new and innovative Emirati store
concept masterminded by Al Goah, the largest global
producer of dates. Zadina’s products, which of
course include the highest quality Emirati dates and
a range of innovative date-based products, are aimed
at local date connoisseurs and international
gourmets. The brief was to create a powerful new brand
that redefines and reinterprets the rich but old
Arabian art and culture in a fresh, contemporary
way. Pearlfisher’s team, led by London-based
Creative Director Natalie Chung, Creative Partner
Jonathan Ford and Designer Fiona John, looked to
opulent Arabic script that echoes the provenance
of the brand; the typography uses a rich gold
calligraphy with fluid lines. The actual marque,
while abstract in appearance, contains the Arabic
word for “dates”. “We wanted
Zadina to embody the true essence of dates to celebrate
Arabian lifestyle,” says Pearlfisher’s
Chung. “Through the use of the marque we can
establish and create an own-able language and
iconography for the brand moving into the
future.” The identity has been translated
across packaging for a range of Zadina products
from jams and pastries to icecreams.Contact:www.pearlfisher.com

Creature Comfort for Coffee Drinkers

Seattle WA

Seattle WA-based Creature has created the first
integrated, multi-channel ad campaign for
Seattle’s Best Coffee. The first phase of
the campaign is billed “Anywhere Great
Coffee is Needed” and includes online-video
and tv ads, billboards, wild postings and digital
elements, and demonstrates the company’s
strategy of bringing great coffee everywhere. Three
30-second spots use humor and depict consumers in
unexpected situations that are metaphors for the
many places where coffee is needed. Outdoor ads
use a 10-foot-high sculpture built from brightly
colored coffee mugs that mirror the colors of the
new the company’s colorcoded packaging
system. The creative team includes Principals/CCO
Jim Haven and Matt Peterson, Executive Creative
Directors Steve Cullen and Pat McKay, Art Director
Brian Choi and Designer Clara Mulligan. The ad
agency has worked with Seattle’s Best Coffee
since 2009 to, among other things, develop a new
logo and branding.Contact:www.welcometocreature.com

Higher Emphasis for Lowercase Logo

Plano TX

J.C. Penney Company unveiled a new logo on Oscar
night, the first meaningful update of the symbol in
four decades. The logo puts greater visual emphasis
on a new, lowercase "jcp" by positioning it slightly
off-center in a box while still featuring the
company's signature red color and Helvetica font. To
choose the design and stave off the crowdsourcing
criticism that befell The Gap and others, the company
sought submissions that reflect a wide range of
perspectives. Participants included employees, design
agencies and two art schools - University of
Cincinnati and RISD - that collectively submitted
over 200 designs for consideration. The winning
design was provided by Luke Langhus, a third-year
graphic design student at the University of
Cincinnati. While advertising and direct mail are
already featuring the logo, it will take a year to
replace all packaging and customer collateral,
with external store signage transitioning over
the next three years.Contact:www.jcpenney.net

DesigNYC Sets 2011 Projects

New York NY

DesigNYC, a volunteer-led organization founded a
year ago by Edwin Schlossberg and others, reveals
its lineup of collaborations for 2011. Nine new
projects, selected from submissions by the nonprofit
and design communities, span the design disciplines
and focus on issues such as sustainable
development, social justice, health and local
food systems. DesigNYC was established with the
goal of matching designers with nonprofits and
offering guidelines for successful results. Among
the green-lighted projects: designer Rodrigo Corral
will work with the Neighborhood Economic Development
Advocacy Project to create a multi-language
financial rights guide for new immigrants in NYC;
Otto NY will partner with Green Map System on a
redesign of the Green Apple Map website; and Studio
L’Image will create architectural enhancements
and interpretive experiences for PortSide
NewYork’s Brooklyn boathouse and community
center. Also in the works are a greenhouse
development on unused lots in East Brooklyn and
a communications framework for a new urban and
industrial ecology center in Gowanus, also in
Brooklyn. Schlossberg’s cohorts include
Michelle Mullineaux of ESI Design and New
York’s Wendy Goodman.Contact:www.desigNYC.org

Secrets of Web Design Success

new york ny

Brian Miller has authored Above the Fold:
Understanding the Principles of Successful Web
Site Design, a book about the fundamentals of
graphic communication set within the context of the
web. Miller, who heads the Brian Miller Design Group
and is on the board of the Type Directors Club,
constructed the book to help readers who are either
new to graphic design and want to be web designers,
or print designers looking to make the transition.
Divided into three sections, the book covers each
step in the process of a project: section one explores
the areas of web design and typography and includes
a historcial web design timeline, anatomy of a website
and the elements of web design; section two helps
the reader understand the steps necessary to begin
a successful web design project from planning and
creative briefs to mapping and wireframing; and
section three examines the business aspects of web
design such as attracting users and tracking their
behavior in order to maximize their value to the
client.Contact:AboveTheFoldBook.com